Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance

Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance

Coming soon in July there will be a change to how merchants supply and customers take their products home. Starting July 1, 2017, local businesses will only be able to use paper bags, degradable bags, or reusable bags. There will be much more information coming between now and July 2017.

Why prohibit Single Use Plastic Bags?

In order to protect the land and marine environment, advance solid waste reduction, and protect our public lands and waterways. Further, single-use plastic bags clog storm drainage systems, create a burden to solid waste collection and recycling, and require the use of millions of barrels of crude oil for their manufacture. This Ordinance seeks to reduce the number of single-use plastic bags that are being used, discarded and littered, and to promote the use of reusable checkout bags by retail stores located in Watertown.